How to manage a PR crisis without the drama
If a PR crisis hit your charity, would you be ready to respond? Would you calmly turn to your PR crisis management plan and start to implement it? Or would your team and senior stakeholders start panicking?
The third sector is seeing more crises surface. In the three months that Roots + Wings has been up and running, we’ve been asked to support two different charities with managing emerging crises.
We believe this is a positive sign that charity staff and beneficiaries feel more confident in whistleblowing. Bad behaviour or poor management practices which might have been covered up in the past are coming to light.
But if you mishandle the response to an incident, it can quickly turn into a PR crisis. Potentially resulting in reputational damage, negative press coverage, and withdrawal of funding.
This blog shares our key principles for PR crisis management. We’ve also created a template PR crisis management plan you can download and adapt for your organisation.
What is PR crisis management?
Crisis management is not about preventing a crisis from occurring – that is simply not possible. You can have all the right operational pieces in place: risk register, policies and procedures, due diligence etc. But they are no guarantee against the bad behaviour of an individual.
Crisis management is also not about covering up wrongdoing. A cover-up is not only morally wrong, it will also do far more damage to your organisational brand than honest disclosure to relevant stakeholders.
As soon as you become aware of a potential crisis, it is all about how you respond. Your response (or lack of response) will determine the duration of the crisis and the severity of reputational damage your charity sustains.
What you say is important, but equally important is how you say it. All communication during a crisis, whether internal or external, should be:
honest and factually true, without speculation
empathetic and compassionate in tone
as open, candid and accessible as possible
as timely and responsive as can be reasonably expected
When is a crisis not a crisis?
Some PR crises we see in the third sector are no more than manufactured outrage. Whipped up by hostile media and shared by a small but loud minority of the public. And some are criticisms of a company or celebrity which reflect back onto charities they support.
In these cases, it’s important to hold true to your values. If you are being criticised for simply working to achieve your mission, you do not need to apologise. Reiterate why you do what you do and the difference you are making in the world.
The RNLI are a stand-out example of a charity leading with their values. They refuse to be intimidated by attempts to create a PR crisis out of politically motivated opposition to their charitable mission.
If a brand or celebrity you have a relationship with is being criticised, don’t jump to disassociate yourself from them immediately. First reach out to their team and understand the context and validity of the criticism. Is it a misunderstanding, or an honest mistake they have apologised for?
Following a crisis management plan will help you take the right steps in the right order. It’s almost impossible to think clearly and draw up a plan when you’re in the midst of a crisis. You need to have your plan ready during the calm, so when the storm hits you are ready.
Download your PR crisis management plan template here.
Key principles for PR crisis management
Early identification is vital. This allows you to: inform key internal and external stakeholders proactively; ask for support and guidance from relevant expert individuals; monitor the situation as it unfolds; respond appropriately with approved statements and fully briefed spokespeople.
Not all voices are equal. You should critically evaluate who is sharing and commenting on a crisis, and be selective about when to respond and who to respond to. Companies and celebrities have thousands of fan accounts and follower bots (fake accounts set up to pad out follower numbers). This can generate a volume of ‘noise’ that does not equate to a serious reputational risk.
Don’t forget about internal communications. Your staff and trustees are key stakeholder groups and should be informed of the situation and your response. This is also a good time to remind all staff and trustees they are not approved to speak to media on behalf of the organisation. Reiterate that they should not comment on the situation from their personal social media channels either.
Use your relationships. If a PR crisis is related to a brand or celebrity you work with, the relationships you have built with their team will be instrumental in ensuring you receive timely updates and responses. You can also co-ordinate a response if appropriate. Don’t damage these relationships by commenting publicly before you know the full story.
Roots + Wings is expert in PR crisis management. If you’re facing a crisis situation and need support in managing it without drama, contact us on hello@rootsandwings.studio